LSU plays Oklahoma at home on Saturday. LSU shot 38 percent from the field (11 of 29), while Georgia was just slightly better at 40 percent (10 of 25).
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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Ben Simmons and Tim Quarterman scored 22 points apiece and LSU held off a late Georgia rally for an 89-85 win Tuesday night.
Rising Australian star Simmons dominated in the paint to pull down 14 rebounds and score 22 points in a complete performance for a Tigers team who nearly let a large second-half lead slip.
LSU Tigers freshman and likely No. 1-overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft Ben Simmons has been lighting the world on fire in his first college basketball season, even if his team hasn’t had the same amount of success that many expected with Simmons’ arrival.
Maten also leads the team in rebounds (7.9/game) and blocks with 31 on the season.
It may have been an omen when the first three field goal attempts of the game by Georgia (14-6, 2-5) were airballs, but it was clear from the outset the Lady Bulldogs were completely spooked by the Tigers’ zone defense. After getting a 10, 12-point lead (14 points), we played with too much comfort. No team in the SEC plays at Arkansas’ pace so that could help the Georgia Bulldogs if they choose to go up-tempo to try to combat Simmons’ effectiveness as a rangy big man.
TROY, Ala. (AP) – Georgi Boyanov scored five of his 18 points in the last 15 seconds as South Alabama held off a late charge to beat Troy 66-58 on Tuesday night. “We have to play smarter basketball with that group”. Michael Carrera’s career high of 34 points to go with 15 boards led the victors, while I.J. Ready’s 20 points paced the Bulldogs.
LSU answered with eight consecutive points.
Maten 2-6 1-3 5, Mann 6-10 7-12 19, Gaines 7-15 3-3 20, Frazier 10-18 3-3 26, Ogbeide 1-2 0-0 2, Jackson II 0-0 0-0 0, Wilridge 0-1 0-0 0, Iduwe 0-0 0-1 0, Kessler 1-3 0-0 2, Geno 2-4 0-0 4, Edwards 3-4 1-2 7.
Georgia averages just under 70 points per game, while giving up 67 points.
Saturday’s overtime win over Arkansas was crucial for Georgia (11-6, 4-3 Southeastern Conference), which needs a strong run to improve its hopes for a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bulldogs shot 62.5-percent from the free-throw line in the game while the Tigers finished shooting 37 of 55 from the charity stripe in the contest.
Sophomore guard Jalyn Patterson and sophomore forward Craig Victor each contributed 11 points.
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Georgia will look to bounce back on the road against Baylor.
